Google’s Pixel 3XL – how security can be undone by human error

Undoing human error

While not everybody can relate to the world of big tech, we can all relate to human error.

The story that emerged over the past day of somebody leaving their prototype of the yet-to-be-released Google Pixel 3XL in a Lyft taxi is instructive from a security perspective.

All businesses have the need to protect their Intellectual Property (IP), and achieving security is a practice of daily diligence to keep your competitive edge in the marketplace.

For an employee, or trusted prototype early tester (it is not immediately clear who left the device), to make such an error reveals how easy it is for a single incident of human error to undo months of planning and security precautions.

Early exposure of a product, in this case a full month before Google’s planned launch event, can go far in blunting competitive edge. For publicly traded companies, shares may suffer as the element of surprise that tech firms so crave is compromised. Sales could be affected as it also gives consumers advanced knowledge on which to base their plans, something along the lines of: “Well, I’m not too impressed by the specs, so I can choose an alternative like iPhone right away.”

Has your security ever been compromised because of simple human error?

In our experience most security events are caused not by “ninjas” with “skillz”, but an opening provided by a simple human mistake.

If your organisation does not have policies and processes for staff to follow, mistakes will happen that can compromise potentially your IP and competitive edge. Training your workforce in security awareness is key to a cultural change where everybody works to keep your business safe and secure; few businesses can afford the kind of leak that Google has just suffered in the back of a Lyft taxi.

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